James Gunn Answers Guardians of the Galaxy 2 FAQ

Regarding Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Gunn offers a slight spoiler regarding Baby Groot; Gunn also talks about Thanos being in the movie (or not) and about the Guardians appearing in Avengers: Infinity War.

REALLY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Answers to questions I'm asked constantly - for those of you who have been around a while, this might be very boring - I'll just try to link back here from now on -

- Is Vin Diesel doing baby Groot's voice?

Yes.

- How the hell is that gonna happen? Vin's voice is deep.

Vin is an actor and capable of doing many voices. His Carol Channing is famous in Hollywood.

I have not yet made up my mind. Let me get through this one first! That said, I have a desire to do other things.

- Oh, you must be exhausted. You want to do something smaller.

No, not really. I mean who knows what will strike my fancy, but I like playing in a big sandbox. I am very comfortable there.

- What's your favorite Marvel movie, outside of Guardians?

Iron Man.

- What? It's not Avengers?

No.

- Wait a second. What about Winter Soldier?

It's really Iron Man.

- LOL. But you said Ant-Man was your favorite!

No. I said I loved Ant-Man. Iron Man is my very favorite.

- I read an article that said Ant-Man was your favorite. So I'm pretty sure it is.

Okay, it's not. I never said that. These aren't really questions.

- Fine. When is The Belko Experiment, the movie you wrote and produced, being released?

Stay tuned over the next few weeks.

- Where the hell did Star-Lord get batteries for his Walkman?

They've mastered space travel, I think they can figure out how to power a Walkman.

- How did he stay alive without a mask when he saved Gamora out in space?

He blew all the air out of his lungs. You can stay alive in outer space for a short while if you don't have air in your lungs. The scene is in slow-motion, so it's longer than it seems. AND Rocket clearly says there's some atmosphere outside of Knowhere - just because there's no gravity doesn't mean there's zero atmosphere.

- Haha that's not science.

It is science.

- People EXPLODE when they're out in space without a space mask.

No, they don't. That's a myth.

- I saw it in a documentary called Total Recall.

That's not a documentary.

- Well, who chooses the songs for the Guardians soundtracks?

I do.

- At what point in the process do you choose the songs?

They're decided upon at the screenplay stage, and I write them into the script. We get all of the rights to the songs before we start shooting.

- Have you ever wanted a song and not gotten the rights?

No, never, thanks to our music supervisor, Dave Jordan.

- Can you PLEASE give us a hint to one of the songs in Vol. 2?

Sure. Two songs played in the San Diego Comic-Con footage: Fleetwood Mac's The Chain and Jay and the Americans' Come a Little Bit Closer. Does that mean they're in the movie? Maybe.

- Tyler Bates wrote parts of the score before the movie and you played that score on set during Vol. 1. Did you do that again?

Yes, huge parts of the score are already written, and it's amazing stuff.

- Has the big Easter egg from Vol. 1 been found yet?

No.

- No way. I think you're just making it up and trolling us.

I'm not. I promise. As I've said a million times, I've never lied to the fans and I never will.

- Are we ever going to get a Slither 2/Are we ever going to get a SUPER 2?

Unlikely. Slither didn't make enough money, and SUPER ends in a way that I think a sequel would diminish it.

- Hold the phone. I was just watching HBO and those Scooby-Doo movies came on, and saw that you directed them.

I wrote them. I did not direct them.

- Haha that's funny.

Okay.

- Is Thanos a big part of Vol. 2?

Thanos is not in Vol. 2.

- So he's only in like one or two scenes?

No, he's not in any of it.

- Does he get up from the chair?

He's not in the movie, so he doesn't really get up or not get up from the chair.

- I can't believe you're gonna have him in the chair the whole time. AGAIN.

You're not listening.

- What does Chris Pratt smell like?

It's really sad, but armadillo urine.

- That's what I imagined.

You did?

- Fantasized about, really.

This is probably not the proper place for that.

- Why didn't Karen Gillan cut her hair for the role of Nebula this time around?

Advances in prosthetics allowed us to glue down her hair flat enough that she didn't look like a conehead in the makeup. And she did shave the back of her head and the underside.

- How much of a story did Marvel Studios give you when you were started writing Vol. 2?

Nothing. The film, story, and character arcs are all mine.

- Wait a second. How do you know where the characters are going if the MCU is all connected?

Fortunately, the Guardians are somewhat outside of all that, so they have complete freedom. At least at this point. Of course any stories afterwards will have to make do with whatever happened in Vol. 2.

- Well, I'm finding that very hard to believe. If Marvel gives you so much freedom, what if you decided to kill off all the characters?!

I wouldn't decide to kill off all the characters, just like I wouldn't decide to turn them all into toasters halfway through the film. And if I DID kill them all, or turn them into toasters, I'm sure my freedom would be rescinded. But Marvel and I have the same goal for Guardians Vol. 2 - to make the biggest, most incredible spectacle film of all time, that honors the characters, and surprises audiences in a positive way. So until I screw up, they allow me to do my thing. And I'm grateful for that opportunity.

- You're arrogant.

Okay that's not really a question.

- Quit posting so many pictures of your pets.

Also not a question.

- DC rules. Marvel sucks.

I like both.

- You suck.

You're just being kind of mean, actually.

- Your girlfriend is hot.

Okay.

- Please tell me the Guardians are going to meet up with the Avengers in Infinity Wars?/Please tell me the Guardians are going to stay separate from the MCU?

You seem to be asking for two different things.

- Because I represent the entire audience and we contradict ourselves all the time.